The fire was reported around noon on Thursday in an apartment above a sandwich shop. The fire spread from that apartment to four other apartments and the sandwich shop. Three of the four apartments were occupied.

The fire moved so quickly that everything in the homes was destroyed in about 5 minutes. Neighbors rushed to save one another. Twelve residents lost their homes to the fire.

"Once the firefighters got it under control, it seemed to flare right back up on them," said Tiffany Yokum, a neighbor.

The situation could have been much worse, according to Vandergrift Assistant Fire Chief Mark Fairman. He said, "I sent two crews up there and they got a good knock down, and the fire never went from this building at all. So, we saved that building, and the building on the other side. We must have had 22 companies here, over 100 firemen."